A Fear in Friendship
by PaperPlaneLetters
Summary: Echo survived a fire that distroied her home and killed her parents. Ten years later, the killer tries to finish what they started. With the help of the BAU, she tries to find her killer and gain the courage she lost in the fire.
1. When you play with fire

**Hello to all. This is my first Criminal Minds fanfic so it's a lottle sloppy. I got the general idea before a saw a lot of the episodes so it has some similarities to other episodes that I never intended to be similar to... run-on sentance aside, I'd love to hear what you have to say and any comments about how I can make it better are welcome.**

**And yes, this has an original character as one of the main characters, if you don't like then leave.**

**Enjoy!**

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><p>Echo stood inside of her parents' home looking around with a slight feeling of confusion. She slowly walked down the dark hallway that led to the kitchen in hopes her parents would be there. Seeing a dim yellow light coming from the kitchen, she quickened her walking pace and turned the corner into the kitchen.<p>

To her horror, she discovered that the source of the dim yellow light was a fire engulfing the kitchen.

"Echo!" A woman screamed from the living room area. Echo ran to the source of the scream and found her parents trapped in the living room, surrounded by the raging fire. "Echo, you have to get out of here now!" Her mother screamed. Echo shook her head viciously, not wanting to leave her parents behind.

"Do as she says, Echo!" Her father yelled. The flames grew larger and started burning her parents as they screamed in pain.

The flames got closer to Echo and she ran for the door with tears in her eyes. She tried opening the door but the doorknob was extremely hot and Echo couldn't get a good grip on it without burning her hands more than she already had.

She pinned her back to the door and watched as the flames got closer and closer. She tried screaming for help but nothing came out. She slammed her fists against the door in a panic as the flames began burning her.

"Nhg!" Echo woke up panting. Cold sweat rolled down the side of her face as she felt her scars start to burn. She lay back down in her bed once she calmed down and sighed. Every nightmare was the same for her; the memory of her parents death.

...

"Alright, what've we got today?" David Rossi asked as he sat down with the rest of the BAU team.

"There have been five fires, all in the same area, within a couple weeks. The locals believe it's the work of a serial killer from 20 years ago." J.J explained.

"Why would they think it's a serial killer from 20 years ago?" Derek Morgan asked.

"This specific serial killer, known as The Phoenix, burned houses while everyone was asleep then wrote a message on the sidewalk for the police to find," J.J replied. "There have been similar messages found near the houses that have burned down these past couple weeks." J.J Showed the team pictures of the messages.

"'_Echo will fall as the flames rise',_" Spencer read out loud. "It's odd; he uses the word 'echo' in singular context in all of these messages."

Rossi shifted in his seat as he finally remembered the case from 20 years ago and what happened 10 years after it. "It's a name," He said getting everyone's attention. "Echo is a name."

Hotch immediately called Garcia. "Garcia, I need you to find any connection to a house fire from 20 years ago and the name Echo."

"Sorry, I got zilch." Garcia replied over the phone.

"Try 10 years ago," Rossi commented.

"Got it," Garcia chimed. "There was a fire 10 years ago in the same area the fires are appearing now. A young couple, Paul and Courtney Eleri, were killed but their 12 year old daughter Echo survived with burns to 30% of her body."

"He's trying to finish what he started," Emily Prentiss realised. "He killed her parents and intended to kill her too but she survived."

"Why is he just getting back to it ten years later?" Morgan asked.

"Maybe she did something publicly to make him realise that she's alive," Spencer Reid said in reply.

"Garcia, find anything you can on this girl." Hotch demanded.

"Way ahead of you, my liege," Garcia replied. "Echo Eleri seems to be quite the artist around here. She's painted many a famous painting and has even written a couple children's books…oh…"

"What is it?" Hotch asked.

"She has selective mutism, she hasn't been able to speak to anyone other than her grandparents since the fire," Garcia replied. "She also has a mild case of Avoidant Personality Disorder, where her mustism stems from."

"Getting her to respond to our questions just got harder," Morgan sighed. "I'm sure she won't want to be around us, either."

"Actually, most people with Avoidant Personality Disorder have a deep desire to have a close relationship with others but still avoid them because of their fear of being judged," Spencer explained. "For them to trust us will take time and understanding but it's not impossible."

"If you know so much about these disorders then you better come with me," Rossi said as he got up from his seat.

"Where?" Spencer questioned.

"We're going to get Echo."

...

"I don't understand why we're going to get her ourselves," Spencer thought out loud. "We don't often do this."

"This is a special case for me, Reid," Rossi knocked on the door. A young woman with choppy brown hair and blond bangs opened the door a crack, only revealing half of her face. "Echo Eleri? I'm special agent David Rossi and this is special agent Dr. Spencer Reid. We're from the FBI," He paused to look at Echo's blankly surprised reaction. "Can we come in?"

Echo stared at them for a while before closing the door, unlocking the chain, and opening the door fully to let them in. She led them to the living room where they sat in an awkward silence.

"Echo," Rossi began after a short time. "We believe you might be in danger." Echo's eyes widened but she said nothing.

"Someone seems to be leaving messages saying that you'll suffer the same fate as the ones that perished in the recent house fires," Spencer explained. Echo shifted in her seat at the mention of a house fire. Spencer noticed her clutching her left arm, which was covered with a fingerless glove up to her elbow. "If you come with us you'll be safe and we could ask you some questions about-"

"Reid," Rossi interrupted. "We don't want to get into that yet," He turned back to Echo. "We figure it would be safer if you come with us. Would you be alright with that?"

Echo nodded slowly in response. Rossi told her to pack a small bag so she walked to her room and grabbed a small duffle bag to put her things in. She noticed Spencer standing by the door watching her. She turned to look at him and he smiled.

"Do you only have a very mild case of Avoidant Personality Disorder?" Spencer asked her. "It doesn't seem life you feel the need to get away from us."

Echo ignored his question and continued packing her things while Spencer began looking around her room. She didn't stop him from looking but kept a close eye on him, making sure he didn't go through any personal things.

"What's this?" Spencer picked up a small shoe box that had been painted white. There was nothing special about it, just a white box. Spencer questioned why nothing was making the box more flashy or personal with artwork of any sort.

"Nh!" Echo ran to Spencer and snatched the box from his hands, glaring at him in the process. She opened her closet door and put the box under a pile of clothes so it wasn't easily seen.

"Sorry, I didn't know." Spencer apologized. Echo's glare softened to an annoyed look with a hint of understanding in her eyes and went back to packing. Once she finished packing her duffle bag, she set it aside close to the door and started packing her everyday bag with things to keep her busy; pens, paper, watercolour paints, her sketch book, etc. She put the strap over her shoulder and headed for the living room, grabbing her duffle bag in the process.

"Ready to go?" Rossi asked as he got up from his seat on the couch. Echo nodded. "Then let's be on our way."

The ride back to the BAU office was quiet. Echo kept to herself and looked out the window, watching the cars race by in the other direction. She could feel that someone was staring at her and stared to feel uncomfortable. She began tapping her fingers on the car door out of nervousness and her breathing pace quickened. She realised that she was starting to have a panic attack and kicked the passenger seat from behind to get their attention.

Spencer turned once his seat was kicked and saw the state Echo was in. "Rossi, stop the car," He demanded. "She's having a panic attack." Rossi stopped the car and got out quickly. They saw Echo get out of the car and stagger away from them but they followed, making sure she didn't hurt herself.

Echo sat behind a tree and took deep breathes. She put her hands over her head to shield herself from anything around her as she heard someone approaching. "Echo?" She heard Rossi say her name softly. "Are you okay? Do you need anything?" Echo tapped her wrist, giving them a sign.

"Time," Spencer said, getting what she meant. "She just needs some time to calm down."

Rossi turned back to Echo for a moment. "We'll be waiting in the car, unless you want us to stay?" Echo shook her head. "Then, like I said, we'll be in the car. It's just over there so we won't be too far away."

Rossi got up and walked in the direction of the car. Spencer followed. "Are we just going to wait here until she calms down?" He asked.

"Yes," Rossi replied. "We can't force her to get back in the car; she'll have another panic attack and might even pass out. We don't want her to feel uncomfortable with us." Spencer nodded to his reply and waited patiently in the passenger seat of the car.

Another 15 minutes passed and Echo finally came out from behind the tree and slowly walked back to the car. Rossi smiled when he saw her and walked around the car to get into the driver's seat.

They hit the road again; making sure Echo was alright before getting onto any major roads. A folded piece of paper slipped over Spencer's shoulder; he picked it up and unfolded it.

_**I'm sorry for that little episode I went through. Different thoughts were going through my mind and made me panic. I'm not used to being around people and the thought of being around so many people makes me nervous. **_

"It's alright, Echo," Spencer turned to face her. "No one will hurt you where we're going. They know that you won't speak to them so they'll understand why you're so quiet, as well." Echo nodded slowly then turned her attention to the window.

Once Rossi parked the car, Echo got out and grabbed her things. "Do you want me to carry that for you?" Spencer asked pointing to her duffle bag. Echo shook her head and held her duffle closer.

She followed the two men into an elevator and pressed herself into a corner farthest away from them and kept her eyes down. The elevator stopped and the doors opened a minute or so later and they walked out into the main room.

"Welcome to the BAU." Rossi smiled.

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><p><strong>First chapter done! Uhg, the paragraphes looked so much bigger when I wrote this on WORD. I hate that.<strong>

**Anywho, let me know what you think.**


	2. The profilers and the profiled

**Second chapter, woo! So this is really just Echo getting to know some of the agents a little better. You can see who she takes to and who she doesn't.**

**And I don't know if i'm getting their personalities right or not so i'm sorry if i'm getting it all wrong...**

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><p>"Hey, who's this?" J.J smiled as Echo come into view.<p>

"This is Echo Eleri, we're going to keep her here for a while until we find out unsub." Rossi explained. Echo kept her eyes to the ground as she followed Rossi further into the office area.

"Hey," Spencer quietly got Echo's attention. "Do you want me to show you around? Get you more familiar with the area?" Echo shrugged shyly and clutched her bags tighter. "You can leave your bags at my desk; I'll make sure no one steals them."

Echo finally agreed to Spencer's offer. She put her things under his desk, making sure they were hard to see, and followed him to various places around the office.

"This is the conference room; we do a lot of profiling and discussions in here." Spencer explained as they entered the conference room. Just as he was about to explain more about the room, Rossi came in.

"Sorry to interrupt your tour but I have something for Echo that will help her communicate with us a little better," Rossi said as he took out a small notebook from his inner jacket pocket. He gave it to Echo, who then stroked the beautiful leather cover and silk bookmarking string. "If you have anything you really need to tell us or jot down, I figured you could use something like this."

"It's a little much for a notebook, don't you think?" Spencer questioned.

"A pretty little girl deserves a pretty little book." Rossi smiled before leaving the room. Echo took the small black and gold pen from the side of the notebook and wrote a small note. She handed it to Spencer and it read '_He's very nice'_.

Spencer smiled. "He's the whole reason you're here with us now," He said, handing her the notebook. "He really is a good guy."

_'You're pretty nice, too.'_ Echo wrote.

"Oh, thanks!" Spencer smiled sweetly. "Do you want to continue the tour?" Echo nodded and walked out of the conference room.

The team gathered in the conference room later that day to discuss the case. "I've found a little more on the case," Garcia said as she scurried into the room. "All of the recent fires are in the area of the last fire he set ten years ago and now that we know 'echo' is a name, it's pretty clear he's hoping to find this 'echo' in the same area they were in before. I've done a bigger background check on Echo Eleri and it turns out that every house that has recently been burned down are houses she lived in while in foster care before her uncle took her in."

"Now we know there's a pattern in the fires, it'll be easier to track the next target," Hotch thought out loud. "Garcia, find any other homes Echo lived in before living with her uncle and find the uncle's address."

"Got it," Garcia started for the door but stopped and turned back to the team. "Is that little cutie outside Echo?" The team looked out the window and saw Echo sitting at Spencer's desk scribbling in her new notebook.

"Yeah, I just finished giving her a tour of the office." Spencer replied.

"What a sweetie. I'll have to introduce myself." Garcia chimed.

"Just remember she won't respond." Spencer commented before Garcia left.

She slowly walked closer to Echo, who was now spinning in the office chair she was sitting in, and sat next to her. "Hi there," Garcia smiled as Echo stopped spinning to get a good look at her. "I'm Penelope Garcia; I'm the fun-loving, amazing, computer analyst of the team. Your name is Echo Eleri, right?"

Echo nodded in response and wrote a small note in her notebook. _'I like your hair and clothes.' _It said.

"Oh, thanks sweetie," Garcia beamed with happiness of the written comment. "I take pride in my originality," She paused before coming up with a brilliant idea. "Would you like to join me in my own little office?"

Echo looked away with a shrug. Garcia looked a little disappointed but didn't take it personally, taking into account her mute state and shyness. "I'll leave you alone then, it was very nice meeting you, sweetie." Garcia got up and started for her office only to feel the strange presence of someone following her. She turned to see Echo following quite a few feet behind her. She smiled as she entered her office and sat down in front of her computers. "Would you like a sucker?" Garcia grabbed a small can filled with colourful suckers.

Echo hesitantly walked closer and took a blue sucker then walked back to the other end of the room. She sat on a small chair and looked around the room as she unwrapped the sucker. She watched as Garcia looked up various things on her computer, clicking, scrolling, tapping, it was all going so fast she had a hard time keeping up being so far away from the computer. This compelled her to scoot her chair closer to Garcia and the computer.

Garcia noticed this and smiled. She continued working her computer magic as the phone rang. "Speak and be heard," She said as she answered it.

"Any news on the foster parents or where her uncle lives?" Hotch asked.

"And do you know where Echo went?" Spencer asked with concern in his voice. "She's not at my desk anymore."

"Calm yourself, lover boy, she's here with me," Garcia replied. "And yes, I've found two other foster homes she's lived in and I'm sending you the addresses now."

Echo looked worried as she read the addresses of the foster homes she lived in then immediately jerked back when a picture of the uncle came into view. "Something wrong, sweetie?" Garcia asked. Echo shook her head and went back to eating her sucker.

"What? Something's wrong?" Spencer asked from the speaker.

"Nothing's wrong, just go back to your profiling and stop thinking of your new girlfriend." Garcia said playfully.

"Girlfriend?" Spencer questioned before Morgan cut him off.

"Thanks Baby Girl," He said.

"Anything for you, my love," Garcia smiled before hanging up. She turned to Echo, who raised an eyebrow at Garcia's last statement to 'her love'. "He's just a friend," She clarified. Echo raised both of her eyebrows in the 'I don't really believe you' way before turning her attention back to her sucker.

Hotch, Rossi, and Morgan set off to find the foster parents while the rest of the team stayed behind. Garcia left her office to join the others in their chat, Echo following behind her.

"So you're Echo," Emily Prentiss walked closer to Garcia and Echo with a smile. "I'm Emily Prentiss; it's nice to meet you."

Echo backed up a bit, feeling Prentiss was getting too close too fast. Prentiss noticed this and stopped walking forward. Echo pulled out her notebook and wrote a note that read _'Hi'_. Prentiss smiled then walked back to where she was sitting before.

"Uh, Reid told me that you have a lot of artwork in your house, you sell your work, right?" She asked. Echo shrugged in a way that said 'more or less'. "I would love to see some of it one day."

Echo stood without any response for a short time before walking closer to Spencer's desk and motioned for him to move. Spencer scooted his chair away from the desk while Echo got her everyday bag from underneath it. She opened it and took out a single good-quality paper. She stared at it before putting it on the desk closest to Prentiss and motioned for her to look at it.

Prentiss pick up the paper and stared at it in awe. A beautiful watercolour painting of a sidewalk in a park at night was on the paper. The colours blended so nicely and the light from the single lamp post seemed to give off real light.

"Echo...this is beautiful," Prentiss said not even taking her eyes off of the painting. Garcia and J.J peaked over her shoulder to get a look at the painting and their eyes widened.

"Oh, it's so pretty!" Garcia cooed.

"Have you been doing this for a long time, Echo?" J.J asked her. Echo shrugged again and kept her eyes away from their gaze, feeling the embarrassment of the attention she was getting.

"Can I see?" Spencer put out his hand and Prentiss handed him the painting. He, too, looked at it with awe. "That really is a wonderful painting for such a small canvass. Have you painted on a bigger canvass before?"

Echo shook her head. Spencer gave the painting back to Echo, who then gave the painting back to Prentiss. She wrote a note in her notebook that read _'You can keep the painting if you want, Agent Prentiss.'_ and gave it to Prentiss.

"Are you sure?" She asked, feeling slight guilt. Echo nodded. "Well...thank you so much. I'll have to find a nice frame to go with it now."

Echo smiled for the first time since she showed up in the office but soon went back to her normal neutral expression. She sat down and listened to the conversation as it later progressed.

"We found the foster parents and the kids, they're unharmed but they're in protective care," Hotch explained as he came into view. Echo sighed with relief at the news. Hotch walked over to Spencer. "How is she?"

"She's doing better, she's getting to know us more so hopefully this helps her trust us and feel comfortable," Spencer replied. "Did you find her uncle?"

"Neighbours say he's out of town at the moment so we're going to have to try and reach him some other way or try again later." Hotch replied before leaving for his office.

"So what have you ladies been up to?" Morgan asked as he sat on Spencer's desk.

"Echo gave me this wonderful painting she made." Prentiss showed Morgan the painting.

"Wow, that's not bad," He smiled as he took the picture to get a better look at it. "You've got quite the talent." Echo avoided his gaze and started walking away.

"Where are you going?" Spencer asked. She stopped and turned back to them then wrote a small note in her notebook that read _'bathroom' _before she kept walking.

"Is it just me or did she just make up an excuse to get away from me?" Morgan asked.

"She might find you intimidating." Spencer commented.

"Why would she be intimidated by me?"

"Oh gee, I don't know Morgan. You're only a big muscular man who breaks down doors and works for the FBI," Prentiss said in a joking matter. Garcia, Spencer, and J.J all chuckled.

Echo walked into the conference room to discover that it was empty. She smiled at the absence of people and sat down to write some personal notes in her new notebook. She only got through one page before she heard the door open.

"There you are," She heard Rossi say from the door. Echo furrowed her brow in annoyance of not getting enough 'alone time' and wrote a note for him to read.

_'Will I never have any time to myself?' _It read.

Rossi chuckled at this. "We need to watch over you to make sure you're safe so we kinda have to be around all the time," He replied. Echo sighed loudly and slouched in her chair. "Hotch got a hold of your uncle and found out that he's just coming back from a vacation."

Echo looked up and stared at Rossi in horror. She wrote in her notebook in big letters _'I do NOT want to see him'. _

"You don't have to see him. We're just going to bring him in to ask some questions on whether or not he knows anything about the unsub," Rossi told her. He tried to reach for her hand to comfort her but she quickly pulled it away, not wanting him to touch her. "...might I ask why you don't want to see him?"

Echo didn't answer with a note or even a gesture. She just sat there in her chair, looking away from Rossi, fiddling with her pen. Rossi took this as a message of not wanting to talk about it at all and that he should leave so he got up from his seat and left her in the conference room without another word.

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><p><strong>So what did you think? :D<strong>


	3. The Echo of her voice

**This chapter helps you know Echo a little better. **

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><p>After Rossi left Echo in the conference room, she began to wander and observe. There were a couple photos of a crime scene on the bulletin board that the team hadn't taken down yet and a few files on the table. She traced her fingers lightly across the edge of the nearest file, looking at the details of the brown, fibre-like, paper but not bothering to read the name of the file.<p>

"That was our last case," Spencer said quietly. Echo jerked in surprise causing her finger to slide across the edge of the file painfully. She whimpered as the pain of her new paper cut emerged. "Oooh, let me get the first aid kit, I'll clean that up for you." Spencer quickly took off for the first aid kit and came back to find Echo sitting down with her wounded finger in her mouth.

Spencer chuckled slightly as he sat down beside her. "You're going to have to take that out of your mouth," He told her as he lightly pulled her hand away from her mouth. "This may sting a bit," he dabbed a cotton ball covered with disinfectant on Echo's index finger gaining a small whimper from her. "The disinfectant will help clean the wound of any bacteria festering inside but also kills the bacteria meant to heal it as well so it's best if you cover it to make sure nothing else will infect it."

Echo watched as he put the bandaide on her finger, being sure not to make it too tight. He looked up from what he was doing with a smile and, to his surprise, found that Echo was smiling back.

Feeling embarrassed, Echo turned away. She opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. She then turned back to Spencer, who seemed quite confused, then gently mouthed the words 'thank you'. Spencer was about to reply but was interrupted by a rage filled voice from outside of the conference room.

Rossi opened the door and looked over at the young adults. "Reid, you better get out here. Echo, you might want to see this," He said before returning to the scene. Spencer got up from his chair, took Echo's hand, and then led her out to the main room of the BAU office. They saw an angry looking man yelling at Hotch by the time they got to the scene. Echo instantly recognised the man and tightened her grip on Spencer's hand while also clinging to his arm with her free hand.

"I don't care if you think she's "safe" here in this goddamned building. She's my niece; it should be me who takes care of her!" The man continued to yell.

"I understand your concern for your niece but we don't want to take any chances," Hotch reassured him. "As I said before, we know she'll be safe here with us."

"Bullshit! You have no right to keep her here! Now give me my niece!" The angry man spotted Echo and made a beeline for her who in turn tightened her grip on Spencer with fear. "Come on, Echo. We're leaving!" He firmly grabbed her arm and started to pry her away from Spencer.

"Hey! You can't take her away like this. She obviously doesn't want to go with you!" Spencer yelled while Echo was pried from him almost completely.

"Stay out of this you son of a bitch!" Echo's uncle yelled. Now completely pried away from Spencer, Echo was viciously pulled toward the exit. She started to panic and turned to the members of the BAU in desperation.

"S...Spencer...SPENCER!" Echo cried as she reached out for him. Everyone in the room froze, including Echo's uncle, at the sound of her voice. Echo took this opportunity to get away from her uncle and rushed back to Spencer, who held her closely as she quietly sobbed into his shirt.

"You spoke..." Echo's uncle said nearly in a whisper.

"Only to get away from you, you monster!" Garcia glared at the man as she rushed over to Echo and Spencer. "Are you okay, Sweetie?" Echo nodded in response as Garcia examined the red marks where her uncle had grabbed her.

"Get him out of here," Hotch said sternly. A few men came up from behind Echo's uncle and started dragging him out of the office.

...

Echo was sitting on the windowsill hugging her knees to her chest as she thought of the frightful event that occurred only a couple hours ago. She traced her hand over the arm her uncle nearly ripped off. "Hey," Echo heard a voice and turned to its source to see Spencer walking toward her. "I, uh, I made you some tea." Echo happily accepted the cup of tea and took a sip while Spencer sat at the other end of the windowsill.

"Can I ask you something?" Spencer asked after taking a sip of his own tea. Echo looked up from her mug and nodded. "When your uncle was taking you away, you called out my name...why mine? Why not Rossi or Hotch?"

Echo stared at her cup of tea and pondered his question. "...because I trust you..." She replied. Spencer's head jerked up at the sound of her voice.

"You trust me enough to...to be able to speak around me...?" Echo nodded in response. "That's quite a large step in your mutism."

"...it's selective...y-you know that..." Echo said quietly.

"Yes I do," Spencer smiled. "I'm really glad you trust me. It's nice to hear your voice." Echo smiled back then started drinking her tea. "Oh right, I originally came in here to tell you that Rossi volunteered to take you home so he can keep an eye on you." This earned an odd expression from Echo.

"I...I'm s-staying with Agent Rossi?" She asked.

"We feel that it would be safer if we watched over you personally, after watching that scene with your uncle. We might even take turns having you with us so your uncle and the unsub won't be able to track you down so easily." Spencer explained. Echo didn't say anything about his reply. She simply took another sip of her tea and looked out the window. "Well...I should get back to work. It was nice talking to you, Echo."

Echo watched him get up and walk to the door. "S-Spencer?" She called, causing Spencer to stop and turn to face her. "...thank you...for the tea."

Spencer smiled slightly and nodded. "You're welcome," He said before walking out of the room.

"Hey Spence, where've you been?" J.J asked as Spencer sat at his desk.

"Having a chat with Echo." Spencer replied.

"And by 'having a chat', you mean her listening to you talk without a response, right?" Morgan asked in a joking matter.

"As a matter of fact, I got many responses from her," Spencer told them. "She's beginning to trust me and feel more relaxed."

"Well, it's nice to know she likes at least one of us enough to start speaking," Prentiss commented.

"How's her speech pattern?" Morgan asked.

"She tends to stutter and pauses in her sentences often, which are also short and to-the-point," Spencer explained to them. "It sounds like she hasn't used her voice in quite some time."

"Sounds like she's still unsure about speaking to us but has enough courage to try, at least," Prentiss said while sitting back in her seat.

"Have any of you seen Echo?" Rossi asked as he walked over to the team. "I'm leaving soon and I want to let her know that she needs to get ready."

"She's in the conference room sitting on the windowsill. I told her that you're taking her to your house for the night so there's no need to explain that to her," Spencer pointed to the meeting room as he replied to Rossi.

"Thanks, Reid," Rossi nodded then headed toward the conference room. "Knock, knock, can I come in?" Rossi opened the door to find Echo in the exact spot Spencer said she'd be. Echo turned to look at Rossi and gave him a small smile, indicating he was welcome. She put her mug down as she got off of the windowsill and walked over to him. "Reid told you about where you'll be staying?" Echo nodded in response. "Then let's head out, shall we?"

Echo grabbed her things and followed Rossi out of the room. They passed the others and waved good-bye then made their way into the elevator. As they were going down, Rossi noticed Echo starting to bite her lip and pick excessively at the imperfections of her bag. "I know you're nervous about leaving the BAU office," Rossi told her. "But there's nothing to worry about while me, or anyone else on the team, is with you." Echo looked down and stared at her feet until the elevator doors opened to the main floor. She quietly followed Rossi to his car and put her things into the trunk before getting into the passenger seat.

The ride to Rossi's house was silent, Echo didn't try to speak and Rossi didn't bother to try and make conversation, thinking it would be best to leave Echo with her thoughts for a while. Echo was thankful for that. She enjoyed staring out the window during long car rides watching the trees and other cars pass by.

"Here we are," Rossi said as he drove up the driveway. Echo's eyes widened as she got out of the car and gazed at the large house. It was larger than any house she had ever lived in, though she hadn't lived in many. Once Rossi had unlocked the door, they entered the house and took off their coats. "Make yourself at home. I hope you like fettuccine alfredo." Rossi smiled as he headed for the kitchen. Echo smiled back and nodded in response.

She put her things down close to the door then sat on a tall chair in the kitchen to watch Rossi cook. "Mind giving me a hand?" He asked her. Echo happily nodded. "Could you get a large pot from the bottom cupboard, fill it with water, then put it on the heated element for me?"

Echo hopped off of her chair and got a large pot then filled it with water. She then placed the pot on the heated element, gently, being sure not to burn herself. "Perfect, thank you, Echo." Rossi patted her shoulder.

When dinner was almost ready, Echo took out the small notebook Rossi had given her earlier. She scribbled a note in it and pushed it closer to Rossi, who then picked it up and read it out loud. "Why does he want me?" He read. He looked at Echo; she had a concerned look on her face. He sighed before replying. "He wants revenge...to finish what he started. You're parents...they stopped his earlier crimes before you were born. Now he's getting back at your family for what they've tried to stop, for what they've done to him. Your parents' death wasn't an accident like what you were told when you were young."

Echo was shocked to hear this. She scribbled another question: 'How do you know this?'

"I worked with your parents many years ago; I was good friends with your father," Rossi smiled. "I even helped name you when your mother was pregnant, believe it or not."

Echo smiled warmly at Rossi. She wrote down another question and handed it to him: 'Could you tell me more about my parents?'

"Of course."

All throughout dinner, Rossi told Echo about her parents. He could see that Echo was fascinated by his stories and wanted to hear more. He continued his stories a couple hours after dinner, telling her about some of his cases as well. "...and, because of your father, we were able to solve the case and get everyone out of the building safely," Rossi smiled as he ended his story. "Oh my, I've chatted the entire night away. We should get some sleep." He got up and showed Echo to the room she'll be staying in for the night. "Let me know if you need anything, okay?"

"Th...thank you..." Echo said, her back turned. "...for e-everything..."

"...Anytime." Rossi smiled softly then headed for his own room.

...

"Good morning, everyone." Rossi chimed as he entered the BAU office. Echo followed behind him then stopped at Spencer's desk and sat down with a smile.

"You seem to be in a much better mood than yesterday," Spencer pointed out. "How was your night at Rossi's?"

Echo nodded with a smile in response, meaning she had a good time. She wrote a small note in her notebook to clarify her thoughts and handed it to Spencer. 'Rossi told me stories about my parents, it was a great night.'

"Hey, that's great!" Spencer smiled. "Did you speak to him at all?" Echo shrugged her shoulders and wiggled her hand in front of herself in a 'so-so' manner. "You're making progress. I'm sure within a short time you'll be able to speak to most of us fluently."

Echo smiled weakly at his enthusiasm to help her feel comfortable in the BAU office but her eyes were filled his doubt and sadness. She hasn't been able to speak normally in front of anyone in years. Spencer noticed the emotions her eyes gave and felt a little concerned. "You okay?" He asked her. Echo looked at him with the same weak smile and nodded before turning her attention to her feet.

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><p><strong>Yay bonding! I like Echo's relationship with Rossi, I think it's sweet, and her relationship with Spencer is just awkward. It's funny. <strong>

**Am I making the characters go a little out of character? I can't tell :/**

**Let me know what you think :D**


	4. Dr Reid's bright idea

**I'm not sure how I feel about the beginning of this chapter.**

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><p>Echo spent her morning with Spencer in the conference room while he stared at the bulletin board trying to find more info on the unsub. She didn't bother asking him what staring at the board would do so she scribbled personal notes into her notebook instead.<p>

"I'm getting pretty hungry; you wanna get something to eat?" Spencer asked, turning away from the board. Echo nodded. "There's a cafe close by, we can pop in there and get something to eat." Echo wrote a note and showed it to Spencer with a smile. "Yes, I'll buy you a donut." Spencer laughed slightly as Echo hummed a happy little tune. They walked out into the main office and got into the elevator. Spencer noticed that Echo didn't seem as nervous about being in the elevator like the last time he was in one with her, which made him smile again.

After a short walk, they entered the cafe and stood in line while looking at the menu. They decided on their lunch just before they walked up to the cashier. "Oh, what kind of donut do you want?" Spencer asked. Echo wrote _'Boston Cream'. _"Ah, the miniature version of the Boston Cream Pie." Spencer paid for their purchases and they headed back to the BAU.

By the time they got back to the office, Echo had already eaten half of her sandwich. She placed her coffee down on the table in the conference room as she sat down in the chair she sat in before they left. By now, Spencer had begun eating his own lunch.

"Hey," J.J smiled as she entered the room. "Oh, that looks like a yummy Boston Cream." She looked over at Echo, who was now eating her donut. Echo smiled at her donut's deliciousness and took another bite.

"Why don't you ever buy me a donut, Reid?" Prentiss teased.

"You never asked." Spencer replied simply. "Oh. Echo, I was wondering if you'd mind staying at my place for the night? I have a few ideas that might help you speak." Echo nodded with a small, nervous smile.

"Is this Dr. Spencer Reid's way of asking a girl on a date?" Prentiss laughed.

"It's not a date." Spencer reassured everyone in the room. Echo was noticeably uncomfortable with the topic of dating and immediately closed her 'emotion shell'.

"We've got a problem," Hotch said as he entered the room with Rossi and Morgan close behind. "The unsub hasn't done anything in the past few days when he should have targeted another house by now. Something's wrong."

"Maybe he saw the foster parents and kids leave the houses, now there's nothing to get him off." Morgan thought out loud.

"Or he could just be waiting now. He's already waited twice, ten years at a time," Prentiss commented. "There could be a possibility that he'll wait until everything dies down again."

"Then why would he write messages to Echo so publicly like this?" Garcia asked.

"So he'd know that she saw them," Rossi replied. "He wants her to be afraid." The room was quiet as everyone turned to Echo. She sank in her chair in shame and guilt.

The rest of Echo's day at the BAU office was quiet and uneventful. She sat at Spencer's desk most of the time scribbling in her notebook and avoiding eye contact with anyone, including Rossi and Spencer. She didn't want to think about the unsub, her uncle, or anything that would make her feel worse about being the only one who survived a fire that should have killed her.

She looked outside and saw that it was dark out. She looked at the time and it read 11:11. "Make a wish." She whispered to herself.

"You ready to go?" Spencer asked as he walked over to her. She nodded and grabbed her things before heading out.

...

"I apologize for how small it is in here," Spencer said as they walked into his apartment. "I know it's quite the difference from Rossi's giant house."

"...it's...cosy," Echo said quietly before placing her things next to a small couch. She took some of her things out and placed them onto the coffee table in front of her to make it a little homier.

"So I was thinking that we could try out a few speech exercises after dinner," Spencer said as he took out a few things in the kitchen. "We'll start out with small things like texting and writing then move onto tougher things like talking to each other on the phone in different rooms."

Echo smiled as she walked into the kitchen area, leaning against the small island. She watched Spencer make KD and they sat at the small island to eat it, engaging in small conversation mainly consisting of Spencer talking about anything and everything that came up. Echo enjoyed listening to him talk about the things he knew. It was amazing how much he knew and it fascinated her.

After they finished dinner, and Spencer finished talking about whatever he was talking about, they sat in the living room and started texting each other. It was going well, Echo started feeling better about talking, inaudibly.

'I don't see how this is helping me talk since we're only texting.' Echo texted Spencer.

'This is just the first exercise. It's just to get you comfortable with interactions.' Spencer texted her back.

'But I'm able to speak to you a little already; I just don't see the point in this.'

'Do you want to talk to me flat out then?' Spencer texted back.

'...No.' Echo pouted slightly.

'Then let's move on to something a little harder.' Spencer texted her before getting up from the couch.

"Let's try talking on the phone from different rooms." Echo bit her lip as Spencer said this. "We'll go slowly, even if you don't talk back for a while, just try to get used to it, okay?" Echo nodded slowly before Spencer walked into another room.

Her phone started ringing and she answered it without a word. "Echo?" Spencer said from the other end of the phone. Echo made a small noise in response. "Okay, just try to respond to what I say. I'll just ask random questions that are easy to respond to. How old are you?"

"...T...tw...twenty...t-two..." Echo stuttered. She felt embarrassed by her stuttering and curled on the couch, hugging her knees to her chest.

"Good, you're doing great," Spencer smiled as he sat down on his bed. "Here's another question, what colour are your eyes?"

"H...hazel." Echo replied feeling a little more confident.

"How tall are you?"

"5'4''."

"What's your weight?" Echo grunted in disapproval of his question. Spencer laughed nervously. "Sorry, I'm getting too personal."

"You think?" Echo retorted.

"Hey, that was pretty good. Can you speak like that again?" Spencer asked her.

"I...l-like w-what?" Echo questioned.

"You sounded sarcastic just now and you were much more fluent in your speech pattern," Spencer explained. "You think you can do that again?"

"...no." Echo grumbled

"That's okay, we've got all night." Spencer smiled. Echo whined in disapproval of his comment about doing this all night. She was getting tired already; she didn't want Spencer keeping her up just so he could get her to speak normally. "How about you talk while I listen?"

Echo thought for a moment; it sounded like a better idea than him asking her questions all night so she agreed. "Sure."

Spencer started talking again like he did during dinner but later turn his attention to Echo once more. "Tell me about yourself, about your life, how things have been lately, anything."

"...I l-lived in f-foster care...for...a l-long t-t-time..." Echo started. "They w-were nice...but I never...spoke t-to t-them..."

Echo kept talking about how she lived in foster care for another hour while Spencer listened. She felt much more comfortable talking to Spencer over the phone since he wasn't actually in the room watching her and she didn't have the pressure of having others watching, either.

"So once you turned 15 your uncle decided to take you in?" Spencer asked her.

"Yeah, he finally thought it would be a good idea to...to take care of me on h-his own," Echo sighed deeply pushing her bangs back. "Though it really wasn't a g-great experience for me...at all..."

"Why not?" Spencer asked remembering her dislike for her uncle.

"I...I don't really want to talk about it, Spencer." She squeaked a little, holding back a sob. She suddenly felt someone sit beside her and wrap their arms around her. She then realised that Spencer had been in the same room with her for a while and she didn't even notice. "H-how...long have y-you been here?" She whispered.

"About 45 minutes," Spencer replied. "I slowly made my way into the same room as you without you noticing. You've been talking like this with me in the room this whole time."

"Smart," Echo laughed weakly as she hugged him. "And thank you."

"Told you it would work." Spencer smirked. Echo didn't say anything; though she felt much more comfortable speaking to Spencer now, she still had trouble with it. They sat in silence until Echo drifted off to sleep.

Echo woke up the next morning on the couch with a blanket over her. She rubbed her eyes in discomfort of having the sunlight from the window blinding her. She looked around the room to find that Spencer wasn't around. "Spencer?" She called quietly. Spencer poked his head into the room and smiled.

"Morning," He said. Echo smiled as she got up from the couch. "The bathroom is over there if you need it, I'm just going to run out and get us some coffee." Echo nodded as Spencer headed for the door and closed it behind him.

Echo took this opportunity to shower and get ready. She got some fresh clothes from her duffle bag and headed into the bathroom. She closed the door and started taking her clothes off; while doing so she saw her burn scars and cringed at the sight of them. They covered most of her left side but only half of her left arm. She took off her fingerless glove, which covered half of her arm, slowly revealing more scars. She finally had enough of looking at the imperfections of her body and covered the mirror with a towel. She had a quick shower and got dressed into a sleeveless, black and gray stripped shirt with a black spaghetti strap shirt underneath, and dark blue skinny jeans.

She took out the blow-dryer she packed in her duffle, took the towel down from the mirror, and started drying her hair while combing through it. Her brown hair and blond bangs started going back to their normal choppy, wavy state the more they dried. Once her hair was completely dry, she put a bit of product in it to lessen the poof and started putting on some makeup.

She heard the door open from the other room and felt a little nervous, wondering who it was. She put the towel back over the mirror and peeked outside to see who entered the house. She could see Spencer with a couple coffees in his hands and she relaxed. "You look a little jumpy, is something wrong?" Spencer asked as he walked over to Echo and gave her one of the coffees in his hands.

"No...I just thought you were someone else." Echo replied taking a sip of her coffee.

Spencer noticed the towel over the mirror in the bathroom and thought it to be very odd. "Why is there a towel over the bathroom mirror?" He questioned.

Echo looked back at the mirror. "...it's a bit of a habit," She replied. "I do it at home all the time." Spencer found this to be strange and began going through different reasons why she would do this in his head.

"Uh...are you ready to go?" He asked, changing the subject.

"Y-yeah, I'll just go pack my things," Echo said as she walked back into the bathroom to get her things. She put her hair products back in her duffle and neatly hung her towels to dry. She stared at the towel on the mirror before slowly taking it down. She stared at her own reflection emotionlessly and tried to find any imperfections. There were a few but since he scars were covered and she had makeup on, she found herself to look like everyone else. She smiled and walked out of the bathroom to find Spencer waiting for her. "I'm ready." She smiled.

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><p><strong>Actually, I'm not sure how i feel about this entire chapter, aha...I like the bonding Echo and Reid have in the chapter but I don't really like Echo's alone moment while Reid is out getting coffee.<strong>

**Guess I should try focusing on the crime part of the story and not the character development?**


End file.
